#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 47 Thankful for Me!

#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks – Challenge Week 47
Prompt: Thankful

Thanksgiving Day - Thankful for Me!

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde

The challenge of writing about the word thankful is easy. I am thankful for my ancestors, or I wouldn't be here.  I am thankful I am.  I am thankful to have the opportunity to research and write about my ancestors because it fleshes out who I am.  Perhaps one day, my descendants will discover that learning about their past is a light to their present. 

I was born in Northwood, Iowa, about a trillion years ago to Ervin Gelnor Vold, the grandson of Norwegian immigrants, and Rose Miller Vold, the daughter of Ruby Anna King (my only German ancestor) and Coy Clifton Miller, whose lineage I have traced to Colonial America.  My father jokingly said he was 'pure,' and he teased my mother that she was Heinz 57.  

Being Norwegian was integral to my identity, perhaps because my grandparents and father spoke Norwegian fluently.  Dad sang Norwegian songs, taught me to count to ten, and named my fingers and toes in Norwegian. We observed Norwegian customs for holidays.  As a child, I assumed and thought I was fully Norwegian.  

My mother had no Norwegian ancestors; my mother's family didn’t come into play until the day I was completing lineage in my first baby's tree. When I asked my mother for names, she wrote down the names of my ancestors on little scraps of paper.  I was amused to think I was also German, English, Irish and Scottish.  

The problem with filling out a family history tree is that once you find one ancestor, two more parents are waiting to be discovered.  Being a compulsive, needing to get things done person yesterday, I began ancestor hunting in earnest.  I always have another line to complete on the tree!  I am so very thankful to all of the people who have helped with my research projects. 

I am thankful and indebted to the Hallinglag, a society of the descendants of Hallingdal, Norway; I am a member, as were my Norwegian grandparents. It is a wonderful genealogy society.  The Norwegian American Museum and Genealogy Museum in Decorah, Iowa, is another great resource.  Traveling to Norway three times put everything into perspective.  

The written (unpublished) history of my Norwegian ancestors dates to the 12th century in Norway, titled The Spirit Runner.  My children have copies of The Spirit Runner in loose-leaf form. 

I love my Norwegian Heritage.  I feel more Norwegian than the DNA estimate of 50% Norwegian; I must be at least 51% Norwegian.  That’s my best guess I’m sticking to it.  I hope to give my grandchildren a strong sense of their Norwegian heritage by gifting them Norwegian rosemaled heirlooms.  Their father’s Forde ancestors are “pure” Norwegian also. 

Yes, there is that other side of my family, the non-Norwegian, Heinz ’57 ancestry, that compelled me to publish their stories in The Spirit in the South, the Stories of Our Grandmother's Spirit(Author House, 2008).  Mom’s Germanic lineage is online at Ancestry.com and on Rootsweb.com titled Wagner Schulz.  National Genealogy Society Quarterly did not allow a title, Nancy Drew Does DNA.  This title was appealing.  It described how I solved the mystery as to why my mother's Virginian grandfather moved to Worth County, Iowa in 1894.  The story was ultimately published by Author House, titled, A Lost Sheep of Shenandoah, March 2022.

In summation, my Norwegian and Heinz 57 ancestors produced me, and I am thankful to every last one of them (even those still hiding from my research) because, without even one of them, I wouldn’t be me, and I like being me!